Funding Opportunities Available

No Llama? No Problem!

Andrew Kruse (2015 Early Independence), Aashish Manglik (2016 Early Independence), and Aaron Ring (2016 Early Independence) eliminate the need of camelids by using yeast to produce special antibodies important in protein research

Funding opportunities for outstanding scientists at all career stages

The High-Risk, High-Reward Research program supports Hoodie Letter Sleeve New Print Stylish Pocket Long Simple exceptionally creative scientists pursuing highly innovative research with the potential for broad impact in biomedical or behavioral science. The program's four constituent NIH Director's awards provide a diverse set of funding opportunities.

The Common Fund’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program was created to accelerate the pace of biomedical discoveries by supporting exceptionally creative scientists with highly innovative research. The program seeks to identify scientists with high-impact ideas that may be risky or at a stage too early to fare well in the traditional peer review process. The program encourages creative, outside-the-box thinkers to pursue exciting and innovative ideas in any area of biomedical or behavioral research relevant to the NIH mission. Four initiatives were created for this purpose:

The NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, established in 2004, challenges investigators at all career levels to pursue new research directions and develop groundbreaking, high-impact approaches to a broad area of biomedical or behavioral science.

The NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, established in 2007, supports unusually innovative research from early career investigators who are within 10 years of their final degree or post-graduate clinical training and have not yet received a research project grant or equivalent NIH grant.

The NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award, established in 2009, promotes cross-cutting, interdisciplinary approaches and is open to individuals and teams of investigators who propose unconventional research that could create or challenge existing paradigms.